Sheffield Computer Science students made to apologise after comparing Black Lives Matter to Planet of the Apes

Two Computer Science students at The University of Sheffield have been forced to publicly apologise after posting racist memes and images on their course group chat.

The Tab's exclusive in November revealed racist jokes posted in the chat by two Sheffield students. One meme compared "The Rise of the Planet of the Apes" to the Black Lives Matter movement and another image had illustrations of "Snigger the Monkey".

When asked why they had posted the images in the chat, the students told The Tab they were drunk at the time of posting.

The students could have faced expulsion, but a spokesperson for the University of Sheffield said they have now written full apologies to those who were offended and the matter is now closed.

The spokesperson said: "There is no place at Sheffield for racism and we are confident that the views of these two individuals in no way represent Sheffield students, who take pride in being part of a community with students from over 140 different countries and all ethnic, religious and socio-economic backgrounds.

"Racism and xenophobia are abhorrent to staff and students and contradict our core values of mutual respect.

"As with any cases when a student's conduct is contrary to our disciplinary code, we will always take appropriate and timely disciplinary action.

“In this instance, following the enactment of our formal University process for dealing with misconduct, as well as meetings with heads of department and a senior central university figure, both students have shown remorse and accepted responsibility for their actions.

"They have fully understood the impact of their actions on others and have written full apologies to all those concerned.”